president obama paid tribute to mcgovern today saying this hero of war became a champion of peace. bob orr looks back. >> reporter: three time democratic presidential candidate george mcgovern won his party's nomination in 1972. >> i accept your nomination with a full and grateful heart. >> reporter: gary hart who would go on to run for president twice himself was mcgovern's campaign manager. and a young vut president bill clinton ran mcgovern's campaign operations in texas. mcgovern, an unabashed liberal called for an immediate end to the vietnam war. but he lost in a landslide to then president richard nixon, after winning just one state, massachusetts. >> we're to the going to shed any tears tonight about the great joys that this campaign has brought to us. >> reporter: one of the great ironies of this race was that president nixon ordered the break-in to the democratic party headquarters in the watergate hotel because he feared being bested by whoever his democratic opponent might be. that break-in lead to nixon's resignation, just two years after overwhelming mcgovern in the e